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Advocates File to Intervene in Pepco Benning Case

Anacostia Watershed Society, Anacostia Riverkeeper, and Natural Resources Defense Council filed a motion with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia today to intervene in the 2011 Consent Decree between the D.C. Department of Energy and Environment and Pepco (once again). We are requesting that the court set a final deadline for the long overdue remedial investigation (RI) and feasibility study (FS) that will characterize the extent of the legacy contamination and evaluate options to clean it up.

Pepco agreed to conduct the study as part of a legal settlement it reached with the District in 2011, but is two years beyond a completion date the parties proposed five years ago. The city pledged to provide meaningful oversight. They each promised the court the study could be completed within two years. Today, Pepco contends it is still studying the extent of the pollution. It has yet to evaluate possible solutions. The city has failed to direct Pepco to act more quickly, as promised.

The very earliest estimate for Pepco to begin the cleanup is now 2020. That projection assumes the cleanup study is completed on the fastest possible timeline, and that Pepco does not fight the proposed remedy chosen by the city. People should not have to wait any longer for Pepco to clean up the decades of pollution it has discharged on site and into the Anacostia River.